So we turn to 1 Peter 2:4-5.
Coming unto Him, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious;
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Turn also to 1 Corinthians 3:12.
But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble.
Turn to Revelation 21. This is describing the holy city, the New Jerusalem.
Having the glory of God: her light was like unto a stone most precious,
as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper:
and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.
The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl;
the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
Let us bow in prayer.
Our Father, we thank You that once again we can gather together this night before You. We look to Your presence here, especially that You may speak clearly to us.
We pray that You will make Your word clear in our hearts. We thank You that Your will for each one of us is glorious. We pray that Your glory indeed will fill each one of us, so that Your glory may be manifested here.
Reverently, we commit this time into Your hands. We look to You to anoint us, that whether speaking, translating, or hearing, we may all be in one spirit. In the Lord Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
We have been sharing on the theme of the living stone, the spiritual house, and the holy priesthood. Although each of our three brothers has been sharing on one topic, really speaking, the three are one.
The word of God shows us not only the living stone and the spiritual house, but also the holy priesthood. We were originally dust, but as we come before God, we all become living stones.
Brothers and sisters, I hope that we will never forget: according to our own nature, we are just dust. We really do not count before God at all. We are so lowly and insignificant. Before God, we are accounted as nothing.
Our attitude before God should be just that of ashes and dust. If we continue to have this attitude, then the Lord will be pleased with us, because God is gracious to those who are humble, and He resists those who are proud.
On the one hand, we must never forget that we are dust. But, on the other hand, we must also remember that we are stones. God has already worked His marvellous work in each one of us.
We should allow the nature of the stone to be manifested more and more. Therefore Paul uses the illustration that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The surpassing greatness of the power is of God and not of ourselves.
The difficulty today is that we treasure the earthen vessel. We seem to place so much importance upon it. We want to use every kind of method to preserve and protect the earthen vessel.
We may even try to put engraving and decoration upon this earthen vessel. We want other people to see us externally, and in fact the treasure within is hidden.
We thank God that we have this treasure in us. We have the nature of stone within us. Yet, ultimately, the earthen vessel outside must be broken.
When other people meet us, they often meet only our earthen vessel and not the treasure. We pray to God that, although we have been saved by His grace, when we communicate with others, they will not merely feel the nature of the earthen vessel.
Therefore, the earthen vessel must be broken. As the vessel is broken, the treasure within can be manifested, and the glory of God may be revealed.
The Holy Spirit arranges many circumstances. Sometimes He arranges people; sometimes He arranges matters; sometimes He arranges objects. Through these things, our earthen vessel may be broken down, so that the light of the treasure may be manifested.
This is a lesson that, as Christians, we should learn throughout our whole life.
We have also mentioned that God is the only One who is the living stone. We know that these stones are living because our Lord is the Lord of life. God is the source of life.
Psalm 36:9 says:
For with Thee is the fountain of life:
In Thy light shall we see light.
Our God Himself is light. It is glorious light. The life of God is a perfect life, a spiritual life.
This life is also in His Son. The Gospel of John tells us that, as the Father has life in Himself, He has given the Son also to have life in Himself.
When our Lord was on earth, He was the life of God. John 1:4 says:
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He manifested the life of God through His human life. In John 10:10, He says:
I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Last time we mentioned that our Lord, as the Son of God, was with God in the beginning, and He was God. He possessed the uncreated life.
This Word of life became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth. We also know that this God came into the world to become Man.
He was exactly the same as we are in His humanity. He had a human life. Yet in this human life there was no sin.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin. Although He was born as Man, He was not born of Adam. Therefore, He did not possess the sinful nature of Adam.
In every respect, He was a genuine human being. He had a human soul, human emotions, and His own personality. Our Lord was exactly the same as we are; yet, at the same time, He was also God.
He had the life of God within Him. He had uncreated life in Him, and He had divine life. On the one hand, He was a perfect Man; on the other hand, He was perfect God. He was God with man.
What kind of life did He live? He had the life of man in Him, that is, soul-life. But He also had the life of God in Him, that is, spiritual life.
Although our Lord had His own mind, His own emotions, and His own will, the way He lived was always according to His Father’s will. The one question was: “What is the Father’s will?”
Although He had His own thoughts, all His thoughts were subject to the Father’s thoughts. Although He had His own emotions, all His emotions were controlled by the Father. Although He had His own will, He prayed, “Not My will, but Thine, be done.”
Therefore, the whole life of the Lord Jesus on earth was one of complete self-denial.
Remember the Lord Jesus said that if anyone does not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him, he cannot be His disciple. The disciple is to learn from his Master.
How did our Master live? He denied Himself in order to follow God. That was His way of living.
The self of the Lord Jesus was sinless. Unlike ourselves, whose self is sinful, whatever comes out of our own self is selfish and must be rejected.
Sometimes our self may express a kind of goodness. Yet this goodness, when it comes from the self, is still unacceptable before God. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Whatever derives from the self has no good in it.
Paul said that in his flesh there dwelt no good thing. But we cannot see this unless the Lord gives us light.
The self-life of the Lord Jesus was completely sinless; there was no stain in it. Yet He still continually denied Himself in order to carry out the will of God.
Remember that our Lord, when He was on earth, did not live according to soul-life. He lived according to God. He continued living this way until He died on the cross.
When He died on the cross, it was the will of God. This is the principle of the Lord Jesus’ life on earth.
As a group of living stones, how are we to live our lives? We still have human life within us, and this life carries the stain of sin. But we praise and thank God that divine life is also within us.
As men on earth, which life do we actually follow in our living? Although we have been saved by grace, very often we continue to live our previous life.
Sometimes we even serve God with the life that we had previously. In fact, all this old life is not acceptable before God.
In order to live a life that is pleasing before God, we must deny ourselves. Whatever life derives from ourselves, we must reject. We must rely upon the life of God.
It is only in this way that God can receive His glory. Therefore, even though we are living stones, we should ask: How are we to live our lives?
Romans 12:1-2 is very important.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
As human beings living on this earth, we may be conformed to this world. This world has its own mould, and often we are pressed into that mould. We tend to follow the trends of this world and to be fashionable.
But there is another way: to prove what the will of God is, what is good, acceptable, and perfect before Him.
In order that we may not be conformed to this world, and in order that we may prove God’s will, our mind needs to be renewed and transformed.
When we were saved by grace, God gave us a new heart. But our thoughts may still remain old. Even after we believe in the Lord, our manner of thinking may remain as before.
We may still measure things according to the standards of the world. Therefore, our way of evaluating things remains old. We need a new way of evaluation.
The renewal and transformation of the mind are connected with presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.
For everyone who has received the mercy of God, the first experience of a Christian should be to consecrate himself to God.
Every Christian should consecrate his body as a living sacrifice to God, because your body is not your own. Your body has been purchased by God at a great price.
You no longer use your body for yourself. You ought to offer and consecrate your body for God’s use.
This is a marvellous thing. As you consecrate yourself to the Lord, at once you begin to have a different view of things.
What you formerly considered precious, you may now count as loss. What you never considered before, you may now see as precious.
That is what Paul experienced in Philippians 3. What he had formerly treasured and pursued, he counted as loss. What he now treasured was the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord.
Especially, young brothers and sisters, you must remember that the first experience of a Christian is consecration. Consecrate yourself to the Lord, so that the Lord may be lived out through you and you may truly be a living stone.
Now we come to the third matter. When we come before the Lord, He not only transforms us from dust to stone; this stone is also living. But God’s work does not stop there.
God wants to transform this living stone into a precious stone. Why? Because God Himself is like a precious stone.
He is not only the great Rock; He is indeed a glorious God. He is like a precious stone.
Of course, we know that it is impossible adequately to describe the glorious God. What do we mean when we speak of God’s glory?
We know what righteousness is. Righteousness is the work of God, because our God cannot be unrighteous. He is a righteous God.
We also know what holiness is. Holiness is the nature and temperament of God, because God is holy.
But what is glory? Some say that glory is the appearing of God. When God appears, what you see is His glory.
Some say that glory refers to God’s satisfaction. When God is satisfied, His glory shines forth.
Others say that glory is the sum total of God’s attributes—the perfection and fullness of all that God is.
In the Bible, the word glory sometimes represents the very nature of God. In this sense, God Himself is glory.
How can we describe this glory? The Bible uses precious stones to represent the glory of God and to indicate His character.
Let us look at a few passages. For example, in Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon, by the river Chebar.
The glory of God appeared to him. He saw a stormy wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding itself. He saw the cherubim, and above them there was a firmament.
Then in Ezekiel 1:26 we read:
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne,
as the appearance of a sapphire stone:
and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
When God’s glory appears, the Bible uses precious stones to describe it. Here it is sapphire.
Turn to Daniel 10. Daniel was also a captive.
Daniel was beside the river when he saw the appearance of God. How did he describe Him?
I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen,
whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz:
His body also was like the beryl, and His face as the appearance of lightning,
and His eyes as lamps of fire, and His arms and His feet like in color to polished brass,
and the voice of His words like the voice of a multitude.
What Daniel saw was the appearance of God. His body was like beryl.
When Daniel saw this vision, he fell prostrate. He said, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption.”
Daniel was a man greatly beloved by God. There were few people in the Bible who were as blameless as Daniel. Yet when he saw the glory of God, he said that his beauty had turned to corruption.
This enables us to see how glorious our God is.
Turn to Revelation 4. The apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos.
In this chapter we see the glory of God.
Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven,
and One sitting upon the throne;
and He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius:
and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
Again, you can see various precious stones describing the glory of God.
God is Spirit. His glory can only be described in terms that we can understand. Therefore, these precious stones are symbolic.
These precious stones describe the beauty of God’s character, the perfection and fullness of His nature.
Brothers and sisters, because God Himself is like a precious stone, He wants us, who are living stones, also to become like precious stones.
He is not content merely to give us life. He wants our life to progress and develop into the character and personality of God.
We know that we have received this new life. The life of God carries His own nature and character.
When we were born naturally, we received the life of Adam, and we developed the nature of Adam. This was our former living.
But after we received the new life, we received a new nature. This is what it means to be transformed in the new life.
God does not simply give life to us and leave us there. He wants that life to grow and be expressed.
How are precious stones formed? They are formed from different elements, deep underground, under great pressure and intense heat.
Through long periods of pressure and fire, different elements are compounded to produce different precious stones.
Brothers and sisters, this makes clear why, after we are saved, we must pass through many experiences. We do not become mature immediately.
As we live on earth, we encounter different situations. If we do not have the character of God, how are we able to live with God forever? How can we reign with Christ forever?
We praise and thank God that He uses all things to transform us. Sometimes people think that after believing in the Lord Jesus there should be no problems.
They think that after believing in the Lord Jesus, everything will go smoothly. They think they will become wealthy and have whatever they want, because the heavenly Father is their Father and they are the children of the King.
My brothers and sisters, for the sake of loving you, God will transform you into the likeness of His Son.
Therefore, He wants you to experience many things on this earth. Perhaps you may have more experiences than unbelievers. If you had known this earlier, perhaps you would have thought more carefully before believing. But now you have believed, and you are in the Lord’s hands.
We thank God, because God wants to transform us. Sometimes He puts us under great pressure.
Under great pressure, we may be stretched and feel unable to endure. Yet all these things from God are for the purpose of making us beautiful.
Sometimes He permits us to be in a furnace of fire. We may pray, “Lord, please remove all this from me.”
But if God removed all these things, you would remain immature. You would never become mature.
Can you see the desire of God? He wants us to become precious stones. Therefore, the Holy Spirit prepares all kinds of situations in order to transform us.
We know from the Bible that, in the Old Testament, there was the high priest.
On the shoulders of the high priest were two onyx stones, engraved with the names of the children of Israel. Upon the breastplate of judgment were twelve precious stones, three stones in each row, bearing the names of the twelve tribes.
The arrangement corresponded to the arrangement of Israel’s camp in the book of Numbers. The tabernacle was in the centre, and the tribes surrounded it in their appointed order.
As the high priest came before God, he carried the names of the tribes upon his shoulders and upon his breast.
The shoulders speak of strength. He used his power and strength to uphold the twelve tribes. The breast speaks of love.
Each one of us is like a precious stone. On the one hand, He upholds us with His power; on the other hand, He nourishes us with His love. He wants to save us to the uttermost.
We see this in Exodus. Then we come to Revelation 21, the city of New Jerusalem.
The wall of New Jerusalem is built of jasper. The foundation of the city has twelve foundations, and these foundations are adorned with twelve precious stones.
These precious stones bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The city is a complete cube. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. The twelve apostles are like twelve precious stones.
Yet these twelve precious stones are all different because the arrangement of their elements is different. Peter will always be Peter, and John will always be John.
The precious stones do not all look alike. God created you to be different.
All creation is different. Consider human faces: none of us looks alike. God truly loves variety.
The same is true in the new creation. No one is alike. Yet Christ is being formed in each one of us.
Some may appear like jasper; some like emerald; some like sapphire. We each experience Christ in different ways because Christ is exceedingly rich and His character is perfect.
No one is able to possess Christ completely. Each one of us possesses and expresses Christ in some measure.
When all of us are added together, you cannot do without me, and I cannot do without you. We must all learn together to manifest Christ.
In Corinthians there is only one foundation, and that foundation is Christ Jesus. But in New Jerusalem there are twelve foundations, referring to the apostles.
If you ask whether there are twelve foundations or only one foundation, turn to Ephesians 2:20.
Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone.
How are we to understand this? Is Christ the foundation, or are the apostles and prophets the foundation?
The mystery of Christ has been manifested through the apostles and prophets. Originally, no one knew Christ, but now the Holy Spirit has revealed Him to the apostles and prophets.
Our knowledge of Christ today comes through them. They did not merely tell us the doctrine of Christ; through them we also see Christ.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, the foundation is still Christ. But this Christ is expressed through the apostles.
Peter is Peter, but in eternity we will not recognise merely the old Simon. We will recognise Peter in Christ—the Christ expressed in Peter.
Today we should be able to see Christ in every brother and sister. One day, Christ will appear in His varied glory through all His people.
Today we may still see the old Adam in our brothers and the old Eve in our sisters. We may not be able to see Christ clearly.
But we ought to see Christ in every brother. Through every brother we should see the glory of Christ.
This is the salvation of God. This is the will of God. He wants us all to become precious stones, each one expressing Christ in a distinct way.
I would like to mention four kinds of precious stones because the Bible frequently refers to them.
The first precious stone is sardius.
Some say that the first stone on the breastplate of the high priest, representing Judah, was sardius. It is also the sixth foundation of the wall of New Jerusalem.
The meaning of sardius is associated with redness. To the Jews, it was connected with the Messiah. Its red colour has a close relationship to the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sardius refers to how our Lord Jesus shed His blood to be our Saviour.
He said that He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
This shows us what kind of Lord our Lord is. He tells us, “I love you, and I lay down My life for you.”
In the same manner, we should love one another and lay down our lives for our brothers.
In this way, the character of our Lord becomes our character. This is His character: He gave us His life in order to love us. We also need, in the same way, to give our lives for our brothers.
So often we ask our brothers to lay down their lives. We demand that our brothers lay down their lives, but we are not willing to lay down our own lives.
In this way, we will not become sardius. Therefore, we need the character of the Lord to become our character.
A precious stone needs to be polished frequently. After you polish it, it shines beautifully.
After it is polished, its shine will last for a long time. Our Lord is like that.
When the Lord was on earth, He passed through much polishing. The more He was polished, the more He shone, and His shining lasts forever.
When was His shining most perfect? It was when He was nailed to the cross.
Brothers and sisters, when He was nailed to the cross, outwardly it was the time of greatest shame. Yet under that polishing, He shone with His greatest brilliance.
There we see the love of God as we have never seen it before. There we see the righteousness of God as we have never seen it before.
We see how righteous God is, that He did not spare His own Son when His Son bore our sins for us.
Today He wants us to be like that. He permits us to pass through much polishing so that we may shine and manifest Him.
Another characteristic of sardius is that it is transparent. When light shines through it, the light can pass through.
What are we able to see in the Lord when He was on earth? He was transparent.
He was not like us. We are often false. We pretend. We put on a façade. We may be different inwardly from what we are outwardly, and different in front from what we are behind.
We are often opaque, hiding ourselves. If we were transparent, everyone could see through us.
My brothers and sisters, our Lord is transparent. What He was before God was what He was before man. What He was before man was what He was when He was alone.
He did not hide Himself. He did not cover Himself. He was true and without corruption.
He also wants us to be transparent.
One day we will walk on the street of the New Jerusalem. There is only one street, and it is of pure gold, like transparent glass.
What does this symbolise? The street speaks of our going to and fro—our fellowship and communication. There is only one fellowship.
We will walk on this street, but it is transparent. What is within you will be shown openly.
If you are not transparent, you will not be able to walk on that street. How can you dare to walk on it?
Our fellowship today is often not open in Christ. How can we have open fellowship on that day if we do not learn transparency now?
These are lessons that we must learn today.
In olden times, people also used sardius as a seal. Remember that our Lord Jesus is the image of God, and today the Holy Spirit also becomes our seal, indicating that we belong to Him.
This is what sardius represents. Today God is working in us, polishing living stones until they become precious stones. How we wish that one day we may see many, many sardius stones.
Let us look at the second stone: the emerald.
The emerald is the fourth precious stone on the breastplate, and therefore it represents Reuben. In the New Jerusalem it is also the fourth foundation.
The meaning of the word emerald is associated with flashing or shining.
Its colour is like green grass. When you see green, it can refresh and soothe your eyes.
In olden days, people believed that the emerald could cure the eyes. I do not know whether it can physically, but we know that Christ, our Emerald, truly cures our spiritual sight.
Christ causes the blind to see. We were originally blind, but our Lord opened our eyes.
He has revealed God’s word. He has revealed the will of God. He enables us to walk in the light and to become children of light, no longer living in darkness.
In ancient times, people also associated emerald with resurrection, representing resurrection life.
Remember that the Lord said, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” We need to experience this resurrection life.
There is an experience in which life swallows up death. This is the experience of a Christian.
According to Jewish custom and rabbinic tradition, God gave emeralds to Solomon so that he might have wisdom to discern what was true and what was false.
Therefore, emerald also represents wisdom: spiritual wisdom to know truth, to know God, and to discern what is true and false.
Typically, in the church today, we lack this spiritual discernment. We lack spiritual wisdom.
Not only do we fail to know God; we also do not know how to use or apply God’s wisdom.
We thank the Lord, for He is our Emerald. One day God will transform some of us into emeralds.
The third precious stone is sapphire. It is a stone on the breastplate and the second foundation of the New Jerusalem.
In ancient times, sapphire represented chastity and purity.
Our Lord is the most pure Lord. When He was on earth, He was completely pure toward God.
He never questioned God. He never had any doubt concerning God. He was completely loyal and pure-hearted toward God. He was like sapphire.
Brothers and sisters, God also wants us to be like sapphire.
Remember what Paul said to the Corinthians:
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy:
for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Paul was afraid that they might be deceived and lose the simplicity and purity that is toward Christ.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that we are like virgins? Every believer in the Lord is like a virgin. We are already engaged to our Lord.
We are not yet married; the marriage of the Lamb has not yet come. But we are already engaged to Christ.
Do we have a loyal heart toward our Lord? Do we have any other love apart from the Lord?
The Bible says:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
God wants us to be those with pure hearts.
According to Jewish tradition, God engraved the Ten Commandments on tablets of sapphire. God gave His law through sapphire.
We praise and thank God that the glory of God has appeared in the face of His Son. When we see our Lord, we also see God.
What we see is not merely the Ten Commandments, but the love of God.